The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre has received 211 reports of "suspicious activity" on Facebook since the launch of a branded app last month, it announced today.
By comparison, earlier this year CEOP said it received 257 complaints about activity on the dominant social network in three months.
The " …

How many of those are valid?

How good is the CEOP button?

Well what is the function of the button, what is the best way to measure it? I will save you the trouble, nobody is going to prison because of it - absolutely nobody. CEOP and the UKHTC have 'publicity' missions - they are little or no use to foreign police agencies, and to be honest are viewed as spin merchantrs, or post office boxes. CEOP is light years away from being the FBI.

ACPO involved?

Presumably people on bus routes with curtains drawn are above board when the curtains twitch? Then they go online and press the CEOP button on Facebook once for every passenger on the bus that just went by?

0.004% of app users report a problem.

Mmmm. Numbers. Fun!

26 million users and 55k subscribed comes out at 0.21% - not a figure to be especially proud of. Added to which, just because they subscribed doesn't mean they will ever do anything about it. However...

Of those 55k 257 have made a complaint. Wow! A whole 0.47%. Now they don't say that those complain are:-

A: Valid

B: Relevant

Personally I'd be surprised if even 10 fit the criteria. I'd expect most to be along the lines, "Jody called me a bitch". However, lets be really generous and say 1/4 of then fit the bill. That gives us a hit rate of 25% of 0.47% of 0.21%

How long before

Restricted to 14 years & over...

This is rubbish. Most kids want in on FB & why the hell shouldn't they. It's up to us as parents to assess & we need to keep a good eye on what is going on. Don't be overly shocked if their language is a little surprising in its informal nature. They are kids after all & do you not remember what you did when you were 14 & where you are today because of your experiences. Allow them to have some but of course be aware of peer pressure & the nastiness that that can encounter.

As far as Paedophiles online are concerned, those that haven't been caught have numbered days. The digital age is one of reverse IP look-ups that result in old stuff being found out & where it comes from will come out too. Just make sure that you are auditing the stuff that is online. It is your job until they're 18.

How many under 13s?

I know of several under 13s who are members of Facebook. I wonder if anyone has actually done the research to find out the numbers and whether this Facebook excuse actually has any validity?

There are much more constructive and much more effective ways to safeguard children than arbitrary and easily circumvented age limits. But then what else is to be expected? I have no confidence that Facebook cares about the welfare of anyone apart from Facebook. Their censorship policies show that that they are much more concerned about popular prejudice and money than the welfare of young people. It is all part of the same immoral picture.